Satellite Imagery - Resolution and Data

Resolution and Data

There are four types of resolution when discussing satellite imagery in remote sensing: spatial, spectral, temporal, and radiometric. Campbell (2002) defines these as follows: - spatial resolution is defined as the pixel size of an image representing the size of the surface area (i.e. m2) being measured on the ground, determined by the sensors' instantaneous field of view (IFOV); - spectral resolution is defined by the wavelength interval size (discreet segment of the Electromagnetic Spectrum) and number intervals that the sensor is measuring; temporal resolution is defined by the amount of time (e.g. days) that passes between imagery collection periods for a given surface location; and radiometric resolution is defined as the ability of an imaging system to record many levels of brightness (contrast for example). - Radiometric resolution refers to the effective bit-depth of the sensor (number of grayscale levels) and is typically expressed as 8-bit (0-255), 11-bit (0-2047), 12-bit (0-4095) or 16-bit (0-65,535). - Geometric resolution refers to the satellite sensor's ability to effectively image a portion of the Earth's surface in a single pixel and is typically expressed in terms of Ground Sample Distance, or GSD. GSD is a term containing the overall optical and systemic noise sources and is useful for comparing how well one sensor can "see" an object on the ground within a single pixel. For example, the GSD of Landsat is ~30m, which means the smallest unit that maps to a single pixel within an image is ~30m x 30m. The latest commercial satellite (GeoEye 1) has a GSD of 0.41 m (effectively 0.5 m due to United States Government restrictions on civilian imaging).

The resolution of satellite images varies depending on the instrument used and the altitude of the satellite's orbit. For example, the Landsat archive offers repeated imagery at 30 meter resolution for the planet, but most of it has not been processed from the raw data. Landsat 7 has an average return period of 16 days. For many smaller areas, images with resolution as high as 41 cm can be available.

Satellite imagery is sometimes supplemented with aerial photography, which has higher resolution, but is more expensive per square meter. Satellite imagery can be combined with vector or raster data in a GIS provided that the imagery has been spatially rectified so that it will properly align with other data sets.